BeyondSeeLevel

“Being” the church has more influence in the lives of your children than “bringing” them to church.

Be an example, not a sample. Pursue bringing God glory in EVERY area of your life, not just the areas that are easiest or comfortable.

Children have a tendency to do excessively what we as, parents do in moderation — be it good or bad.

When we aren’t obedient to God, but require our children to be obedient to us, we produce complaint children, instead of obedient children. Meaning, they will do what they’re “supposed” to do or what’s right, as long as you are around. But they won’t necessarily develop the heart to do the right thing simply because it’s the right thing to do (no matter who’s around). Obedience is from the heart.

The ultimate gift you can give your children is to model for them what it means to love the Lord. The world only requires you to provide for and protect your children. But being a Kingdom – a godly parent – is much deeper and weightier than that. It’s a call to ministry and stewardship to raise Kingdom children – to raise our children to have hearts for God. It’s one of the most up close and personal assignments to “making disciples” we could every have.

What an awesome privilege it is to help guide someone in the ways of righteousness. Even moreso, the little people God blesses us to have and influence.

The beautiful thing about God’s grace is that even though we may not have been intentional about raising our children to be Kingdom children, and not just good children, is that God is giving us another chance. He’s affording us this opportunity to right our wrongs.

It starts with us. We can’t raise children submitted to God when we’re not submitted to God. We must pour into our children what we want to pour out of them. Children will do what they’re told, but they’ll grow up and model what we show them — what we show into them.

Let your children know why things will be different. Tell them that you’re trying better to live for God. Be honest about how you’ve fallen short. Show them repentance. Show them commitment and servitude. Show them what it means to love God with your whole being. Be a Kingdom parent.

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Matthew 22:37‭-‬39 KJV

Some of us desire Egypt (bondage to sin) because we’ve yet to develop an appetite for Canaan. We want the spiritual benefits, but don’t crave spiritual things. Our relationship with God is based on what He does for us and what He gives us in this life. We crave blessings more than we crave the God of those blessings.

Life is good when God is giving us all that we ask for. But when God says “no” or “not yet”, we revert to complaining and whining like ungrateful, spoiled children. We treat God like He’s a Shuga Daddy, instead of our Heavenly Father. We adore Him what what He does, but not for who He is. There’s no real pursuit for an intimate relationship with God.

We want to be close enough to Him to benefit from Him, but not close enough to be used by Him. We treat God like He’s supposed to bless us. We leave no room for God’s sovereignty. Our every wish is supposed to be granted upon request. We haven’t understood or accepted that we can pray, but we don’t get to dictate how, when or if God answers our prayers.

Like the children off Israel, we ask the Lord to feed us. He blesses us with manna. Now we’re complaining because we expected or preferred the meatpots and figs we had when we were in Egypt — too spoiled to appreciate that we are fed! He didn’t have to give us that!

We will always struggle desiring to go back to Egypt or fail to appreciate Canaan, as long as we have a Canaan deficiency in your spiritual diet. You won’t crave what you won’t develop an appetite for. And truth be told, for way too many of us, the things of God are more like snacks and appetizers, but not the main course. O, taste and see, that the Lord is good!

*Tressa Jo